The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on Monday informed that water of 22 places out of 33 places has not met the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) standards for monitoring pollution level in the Yamuna river. According to sources in the ministry, the presentation presented before the Standing Committee of Parliament said that water samples of 7 and 12 places in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh were unsuccessful in quality testing, while water samples of 4 places monitored in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh lived on the CPCB criteria.
The Ministry of Environment informed the Parliamentary Committee that samples of three places prescribed for monitoring the Yamuna river water in Haryana were successful in the quality test, while the samples of the other three places failed to testing. The National Water Monitoring Program (NWMP) of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) assesss water quality based on the amount of oxolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand (bod), pH level and fecal coliform.
According to sources, the falling sewage and drains falling into the Yamuna is a major cause of pollution of the river in the national capital. Yamuna is considered to be the biggest tributary of the Ganges. In the data presented before the Parliamentary Committee, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said that by February 2025, 791 MLD of the total 3,600 MLDs generated in Delhi remains without sewage. According to ministry officials, out of the 22 drains of Delhi, only 9 drains have been completely tapped and 2 partially tapped, which makes it clear that there are only 11 drains that are cleaned and released into the Yamuna.
There are nine unnatural drains in Tughlakabad, Abul Fazal, ISBT, Sonia Vihar, Kailash Nagar, Shastri Park, Barapula, Maharani Bagh and Jaitpur in Delhi. Apart from this, two large drains like Najafgarh and Shahdara are not considered suitable for technical tap. It is noteworthy that Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinay Kumar Saxena formed a high level committee in January 2023 to control pollution in the Yamuna River.
